Retrieving Apologetics

Glenn B. Siniscalchi

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781498228435, 9781498228459
• eBook ISBN: 9781498228442
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Église chrétienne

Given the popes' recent statements of their desires to implement the New Evangelization, it is imperative that Catholic theologians and other intellectually engaged laypersons retrieve the vital discipline of apologetics. For, the New Evangelization places particular emphasis on "reproposing the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith... due to secularization." One salient method of Catholic apologetics used to be characterized by three demonstrations, each of which assumes the conclusions established in the previous step(s). Some might think that this classical method of apologetics has been abandoned in the postconciliar Church, but Siniscalchi's book updates it. Unlike the classical apologetics of the preconciliar era, Siniscalchi engages contemporary scholarship in a variety of academic disciplines, such as philosophy, history, biblical studies, sociology, and theology, to develop the steps that are necessary for showing the reasonableness of faith.

part one

The Legitimacy of Apologetics

1

Conciliar Apologetics and Interreligious Dialogue

One might commence a vision of apologetics that is faithful to Catholic teaching by analyzing the documents of Vatican II (1962–1965).27 As Pope Francis has suggested: “because it draws its life from faith, theology cannot consider the magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him as something extrinsic, a limitation of its freedom, but rather as one of its internal, constitutive dimensions, for the magisterium ensures our contact with the primordial source and thus provides the certainty of attaining to the word of Christ in all its integrity.”28

Recognizing that Christians cannot adequately understand the mysteries of faith from a single vantage point, many postconciliar theologians have been keen on emphasizing the multidimensional nature of theological understanding since Vatican II. Apologists should also recognize that although one way of defending the gospel might be needed in a certain context, it would be an egregious mistake to take that one system and use it as the exclusive means to reach persons situated within different circumstances. Nonetheless, the contextual nature of apologetic engagement should not be used as an excuse to negate the use of classical apologetic methods.

The Apologetical Dimensions of Vatican II

A commonsense interpretation of the Council indicates that the faithful are called to apologetically engage the world with arguments for the sake of evangelization. The documents repeatedly stress the need for believers to explain and defend the gospel. Although Pope John XXIII originally called for the Council to let some fresh air into the life of the Church, his intention was not to break off from Sacred Tradition. It is not a Council’s role to embark on completely new teaching but to substantiate doctrine in a new cultural climate that the Church finds herself in.

According to the First Vatican Council (1869–1870), for instance, God reveals himself in a supernatural manner, conveying truths that go beyond the reach of human reason. This message is accompanied by the outward signs of miracles and prophecies which show the credibility of God’s revelation. Once this revelation is given to humanity, it is capable of being penetrated rationally in order for people to gain a greater understanding of it. This apologetical method resembles the classical approach to defending the faith.

Vatican II did not elaborate on any method of apologetics in detail. But this does not mean the Council Fathers did not see reasoned defenses of the faith as unimportant or as irrelevant. M. John Farrelly points out: “Vatican II gave primacy to the meaning of God and Jesus Christ but also insisted that reason, common human experience, and the historical value of the Gospels support our faith in the existence of God and his revelation through Jesus Christ.”29

However, there can be no denying that the Council Fathers were concerned to endorse the validity of apologetics. Appealing to the central apologetical passage of the New Testament (1 Pet 3:15), the bishops urged the faithful that “all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.”30 In the Declaration on Religious Liberty, the Fathers stated that “the disciple has a grave obligation to Christ, his Master, to grow daily in his knowledge of the truth he has received from him, to be faithful in announcing it, and vigorous in defending it without having recourse to methods which are contrary to the spirit of the Gospel.”31 Though Catholics can win unbelievers over to faith by their lifestyle, this would not mean that arguments should not be included in the attempt to evangelize others.

Thus the task of defending the faith is commended by the bishops, especially as believers become more accountable to God’s standards of discipleship. Catholics “are more perfectly bound to the Church by the sacrament of Confirmation, and the Holy Spirit endows them with special strength so that they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ.”32 Catholic laypersons are not merely called to dialogue with non-Christians, but must seek to convert them to the risen Christ.33 The Constitution on Divine Revelation goes so far as to say that we must “fight in defense of the faith.”34 This rhetorical phrase stresses the great lengths which Catholics must go in order to preserve the Church’s teaching against the multitude of challenges that confront us today. All believers have the duty to defend the faith, but the task of safeguarding the gospel is officially entrusted to the magisterium.35

One of the great themes of Gaudium et Spes has to do with reading the signs of the times in order to effectively answer humanity’s deepest questions. The document claims that “The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which people ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other.”36

In reading the culture, Catholics are not only called to engage formal outsiders (and insiders) with arguments for faith, they must also learn effective ways to deliver and defend the message. Method and context must therefore be taken into serious consideration: “within the requirements and methods proper to theology, [believers] are invited to seek continually for more suitable ways of communicating doctrine to the people of their times; for the deposit of Faith or the truths are one thing and the manner in which they are enunciated, in the same meaning and understanding, is another.”37

In sum, the Council shows a serious concern to use arguments and evidence for the sake of implementing an evangelical spirit (especially if the broader circumstances in a dialogue allow for it). Catholics should not force their dialogue partners into a win-lose situation. But Vatican II teaches both practical and theoretical approaches for the sake of evangelizing both the Church and the world.

Specifically, in the dogmatic constitution, Dei Verbum, the bishops reiterate the natural knowledge of God.38 Traditionally, the Church has held that individuals can know that God exists with reason apart from the influence of divine, authoritative revelation. Correlatively, this means that fideistic approaches are contrary to Catholic teaching. The bishops announce that “God, the beginning and end of all things, can be known with certainty from created reality by the light of human reason.” They also teach that “it is through His revelation that those religious truths which are by their nature accessible t...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part One: The Legitimacy of Apologetics
• Part Two: The Existence of God
• Part Three: God Reveals Himself in Jesus
• Part Four: The Relevance of Christian Belief
• Part Five: Jesus Christ and the Religious Others
• Conclusion
• Bibliography